Future Tense: A Conversation with Noah Raford

Future Tense: A Conversation with Noah Raford, Futurist-in-Chief, Dubai Future Foundation

We live in chaotic times. Turbulent news washes over us by the minute, preventing us from thinking properly about the long term. 

Yet now, more than ever, this is the right time to slow down, to reflect and to think deliberately about the long-term future ahead. 

Consider yourself the captain of a sailboat in stormy seas. Wouldn’t it be both calming and wise to deliberately take your eye off the nauseating choppy waters and looking into the far horizon at certain intervals? To gain perspective and think about the big tacks you may need to make, alongside the constant trimmings you are obliged to do.

With Future Tense, ATÖLYE will invite thought leaders and edge thinkers from around the world to discuss pressing topics from a foresight perspective. The driving intent will not be to take strong stances, but rather to explore future tensions, have generative conversations, and allow for a new type of collective intelligence to emerge. 

This is an invitation for the leaders and the changemakers. The curious minds and the restless explorers. 

We look forward to hosting you. Register for the event at this link to reserve your seat as there is limited capacity.

About the event

“What will happen to Europe and North America if COVID-19 lasts a year or more?”

Noah Raford will explore this question through a short presentation on three plausible scenarios for the future. Participants will then be invited to discuss the nascent tensions as shared within the narrative in smaller breakout rooms. Resulting insights from individual circles will be debriefed and collectively captured to frame informed conversations on the possible futures that await us.

The journey will be hosted by ATÖLYE Co-founder Engin Ayaz and co-facilitated by the ATÖLYE Academy team.

About Noah Raford

Noah Raford is the Futurist-in-Chief and Chief of Global Affairs for the Dubai Future Foundation. Noah is responsible for identifying emerging opportunities, strategic partnerships, and future initiatives for the Government of Dubai, as well as leading the Foundation’s thought leadership and partnerships activities.

Previously, Noah was the Chief Operating Officer of the Dubai Future Foundation and Acting Executive Director of the Museum of the Future. He was also an advisor on futures, foresight, and innovation in the UAE Prime Minister’s Office, a senior strategy consultant at Monitor/GBN, CEO and Co-founder of the technology foresight company Futurescaper, North American Director of Space Syntax Limited, and the Senior Research Advisor to Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment.

Noah completed his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), his master’s at the Bartlett School of Architecture, and his undergraduate degree at Brown University. He has served as a member of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Agenda Council on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, a Senior Research Fellow at the London School of Economics, a fellow at the Bartlett School of Architecture, and as a member of the International Futures Forum.

He lives between Dubai and London, is married with two children, and enjoys electronic music.

About the series

ATÖLYE Academy’s Future Tense Series engages thought leaders from around the world alongside a wider audience, for a collective discourse on pressing topics with a long-term thinking lens.